Early St. Louis City Directories

Ancestry Library Edition (Ancestry LE) includes digitized versions of many early St. Louis city directories. I took a closer look at the directories for 1863-1873 in order to give you a clearer idea of what’s actually available for our fair city.

Title Page of Edwards' Annual Directory (1871)

* 1863 Campbell & Richardson’s Business Directory
* 1864 Edwards’ Annual Directory of the City of St. Louis
* 1865 Edwards’ Annual Directory of the City of St. Louis
* 1866 Edwards’ Annual Directory of the City of St. Louis
* 1866 T. A. Holland Co.’s Business Directory of St. Louis
* 1867 Edwards’ Annual Directory of the City of St. Louis
* 1868 Edwards’ Annual Directory of the City of St. Louis
* 1869 Edwards’ Annual Directory of the City of St. Louis
* 1870 Edwards’ Annual Directory of the City of St. Louis
* 1871 Edwards’ Annual Directory of the City of St. Louis
* 1872 Gould & Aldrich’s Annual Directory of the City of St. Louis
* 1873 Gould’s St. Louis Business Directory

Note that some directories list only businesses, while others list both individuals and businesses. A directory of each type is available for 1866. Note also that city directories generally only list employed adults, not all family members (although some later directories also list wives/widows).

City directories can include numerous helpful features in addition to the listings of individuals and businesses. You will also find lists of city, state, and federal officials, lists of churches, schools, and other institutions, plus other helpful features like those noted in the Table of Contents of the 1863 Business Directory:

Table of Contents from Campbell & Richardson’s Business Directory (1863)

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